14th November 2023
This month will see the Diabetes consultation notes (DCN) reach a new record of 200,000 notes created since its launch in 2019.
The Diabetes Consultation Note is an electronic record designed to streamline diabetes care information on a single platform. Part of the Welsh Information Solution for Diabetes Management (WISDM) and accessed via the Welsh Clinical Portal (WCP), DCN’s are viewed and used by consultants, nurses, podiatrists, dietitians, obstetricians and gynaecologists as well as health care assistants and administrative staff.
Simplifying the communication between primary and secondary care, the DCN allows health care professionals to work cohesively together to ensure the best patient care. This improves care and safety, by allowing quick access to patient information and reducing duplication of tests, treatment and appointments.
Andy Bray, Diabetes Specialist Nurse at Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board said:
“The concept is remarkably simple. From a single login the user of the Welsh Clinical Portal, and more specifically, the Diabetes Consultation Note (DCN) is able to access the diabetes consultation notes of any patient with diabetes who has been seen by any other member of any diabetes team across all the heath boards in Wales.
This supports my day-to-day practice as a Diabetes Specialist Nurse as I can quickly and easily see not just an inpatient review of a patient with diabetes but also outpatient reviews, clinical letters and biochemical results in one place. Having readily available access to up-to-date records translates into faster and more efficient reviews of patients with diabetes, leading to improved outcomes for patients and staff.”
The DCN is part of the Welsh Information Solution for Diabetes Management (WISDM), along with the Diabetes View. Diabetes View is a read-only single summary screen in the Welsh Clinical Portal (WCP) that extracts data from the Diabetes Consultation Note, Welsh Results Reporting Service and Welsh Care Record Service to provide clinicians with quick access to key summary patient data to support patient consultations. It will go live in January 2024 with the next release of the Welsh Clinical Portal and will be made available to other health boards when they go live with WISDM.
Diabetes View is comprised of individual ‘tiles’ that address specific aspects of the diabetes electronic health record including:
(Screenshot is of Diabetes View from the test environment with test patient data.)